288 Proceedings, (^c, for 18SQ. 



rities on which they are made. For the rest our own experience in 

 connection with the fisheries in the Arctic Seas has led us to the 

 conclusions at which we have arrived. 



We think it is established beyond doubt that whales of a species 

 similar to the right or Greenland whale, found in high northern 

 latitudes, exist in great numbers in the Antarctic Seas, and that the 

 establishment of a whale fishery within that area would be attended 

 with successful and profitable results. These seas abound besides 

 with all the other species of whale found in the northern Polar area 

 — viz., the finner, hunchback, bottlenose, and grampus — except- 

 ing the narwhal, which seems to be unknown in the Southern regions. 

 These, as is well known, are, in comparison with the right whnle, of 

 small value ; and the only difference which appears to us to exist 

 between what is termed the right whale of the southern and the 

 Greenland whale of the northern latitudes is, that the head of the 

 latter is higher on the crown than that of the former, causing the 

 whalebone of the southern, as compared with that of the northern 

 species, to be shorter, and consequently of somewhat less value. 

 The produce of the southern variety, chiefly obtained by the capture 

 of whales which had strayed from their natural haunts as far as the 

 bays of New Zealand, has also commanded in the market a price 

 somewhat inferior to that of Greenland produce, a fact which we 

 attribute to defects in the mode of its manufacture. 



It is not without encouragement to those who may embark in the 

 proposed adventure that in the Antarctic regions the right whale 

 exists in the greatest numbers near the margin of the ice. We 

 infer from this that, as the Greenland fishery was long prosecuted 

 with great profit in the comparatively open spaces in the northern 

 seas until the whales, after years of persecution, left the open water 

 and sought shelter amidst the floes, so the whales of the Antarctic 

 seas frequent, in numbers comparatively unthinned, the margin of 

 the South Polar ice, where they can still be reached with less diffi- 

 culty than if they had been already driven to seek shelter in its 

 recesses. 



The inclemency of the weather of the Antarctic regions has, we 

 are inclined to think, been somewhat exaggerated. It is true that 

 the climate of the southern hemisphere, especially in high latitudes, 

 is less genial than that of the northern, but a reference to the table 

 which is appended, in which we compare the temperatures ascer- 

 tained by us within the Arctic Circle in the months of June, July, 

 and August, which correspond to those of December, January, and 

 February in the southern hemisphere, shows that the difference is 

 less marked than it has been supposed to be ; and, with respect to 

 the force of the wind and bad weather generally, our experience in 

 the Arctic Seas has led us to encounter heavier gales than we find 

 recorded in the narrative of Captain Eoss' three years' voyage. As 

 will also be seen from the comparative table appended, the force of 



